Through Tangles of Tattoos and Time
by cat128
Summary: What if tattoos just randomly appeared on our skin at key points in our lives and we had to figure out what they meant for ourselves? Dean's life as shown through his Marks. A Dean/Cas one-shot.


_**A/N: Hey guys so I wrote a thing... It's based off a tumblr post, link is at the bottom. It's also the first fic I've ever finished so yay! If you leave a review I'll love you forever. **__**Disclaimer: I do not own Supernatural. If I did destiel would've become canon way back in season 5. **_

Dean's first one appears when he's four, bright orange-red flames on his left shoulder that he shows off to all his friends at preschool because "I got my first Mark before you! Ha!" is really fun to say. It's wicked cool and all his classmates are jealous so why do his parents look so worried whenever he mentions it?

_"Take your brother outside as fast as you can! Don't look back! Now, Dean, go!"_ As Dean carries his brother he's hit with a jolt of blinding heat right where his heart is that has nothing to do with the fire raging in his house.

Dean only remembers it hours later as he's trying to calm down a screaming Sammy in the backseat of the Impala, and when he turns on the flashlight to look there's fancy black letters inked on his heart. He can't read yet so he spells it out for his dad, "S-A-M-U-E-L-W-I-N-C-H-E-S-T-E-R", but John's crying too much to care.

(When Dean enters the fifth grade and they start talking about the history of the Mark, he learns that parents will get their children's names etched onto their hearts- but he doesn't understand why Sammy's name is on his until much, much later.)

After the fire Dean realizes why nobody who has more than one Mark ever talks about them- they rarely mean anything good. _Mary Winchester_ is now written in tiny black letters curled around the base of his index finger, and John's is around his ring finger and Sammy's still a baby but he gets one too, so small it's barely noticeable, on his thumb. John has his surgically removed and once Sam can read he starts asking questions, until John finally loses it and throws the beer bottle at five-year-old Sammy's head. Sam doesn't bring it up again.

The fourth one doesn't come until Dean is 16, and it's accompanied with a searing pain ripping through his chest. Dean lifts up his shirt and there's a tiny dagger, dripping with blood and slanting upwards in motion, tattooed on the middle of his right ribcage. Dean covers it up with a smudge of makeup and Amanda Heckerling knows better than to ask.

He's 18 when the Impala gets handed down to him, and the Mark appears the very next day on his hip. This one doesn't hurt, and it's cool to the touch and for some reason it makes Dean feel like everything will be okay.

Dean's 29 and_ John Winchester_ and _Samuel Winchester_ are both written in elegant, tiny black script on his middle and ring fingers respectively. But after Dean sells his soul to bring Sammy back it should make Sam's name go away too but instead it just fades to gray. Dean tries not to dwell on what that could mean.

When he climbs out of that pine box, one of the first things he notices is a pair of black wings imprinted on his wrist. He reunites with Sam and discovers his brother has a cherry red lollipop in the same place. But wrists are generally reserved for the names of spouses and soulmates and God knows neither of them have time for either.

Dean's newest tattoo makes sense once Cas and his Gang of Angels show up to royally fuck up the earth, but the only thing Dean can think of to explain Sam's is that he's soulmates with the Trickster. This theory earns him a smack upside the head and a bitchface.

When the Trickster happens to be an Archangel and Dean stumbles across him making out with Sam in the Impala, he bursts out laughing.

Dean thought he'd figured out what the angel wings meant until Cas materializes in the motel room, panicking wildly- well, as much as Cas can panic wildly, anyway.

"Dean, I- I seem to be getting a- what do humans call them? Mark?" Cas pulls up the sleeve of his trenchcoat and there's blurry letters written across the wrist, worrying only because Jimmy Novak is existing-but-not-really and angels can't get Marks. Gabriel and Sam have no help to offer except to wait for it to sharpen and see what it says.

A week later, Cas poofs into the passenger seat of the Impala when Dean is driving to the store to pick up snacks. Dean nearly loses control of the Impala and swerves into the other lane, swearing."Don't do that!"

Cas ignores him and says, "My Mark. It's your name."

Dean almost hits another car and wisely decides to pull over.

"Let me see."

Dean takes Cas's arm and pulls up the sleeve, and sure enough, his name is inked on the angel's wrist in perfectly neat little letters.

He nearly chokes on the air. "It can't be, it has to be Gabriel joking around- there's no way I have a soulmate-"

But then, _but then,_ Dean's hand accidentally brushes against Cas's and an animated red string starts winding its way between their fingers, abruptly disappearing when Dean removes his hand like he's demon touching holy water.

Cas raises an eyebrow. It's probably the closest thing to shock that Dean has ever seen on the angel.

"The Red String of Fate. Stronger than even the bond between two soulmates, linking two people together regardless of time, distance or circumstance. It can't be Gabriel, nothing but my father himself is powerful enough to mess with this- we were destined to be together Dean, from the moment God created me milleniums ago. This string can tangle and stretch and knot but we're connected to each other for all eternity. You and me, Dean."

And Cas leans in and kisses him, and all the shit about Lucifer and the impending war and inevitable apocalypse seems to melt away. And everything in Dean's soon-to-be-destroyed world is going wrong, but in this moment, sitting in the Impala with his lips pressed to Cas's, nothing had ever felt more right.

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